October 7 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam added to his Oct. 6 to Margaret Blackmer. Here is the Oct. 7 segment:
Oct. 7. Your letter came yesterday, & was very welcome. Do the kittens miss you? Indeed they do. Why, even the rocks & the trees & the flowers miss you. Yes, & the landscape, too. It doesn’t think as much of itself as it did when you were a part of it, & I shall not be satisfied with it until you are a part of it again. It is pathetically doing its very best to make up for your loss with other splendors, but it doesn’t succeed—doesn’t with me, dear, for sure.
I am not quite certain of your school-address, so I am waiting till I hear from you again [MTP; MTAq 212-14]. Note: see segments added on Oct 8 & 9.
Sam also wrote to Helen S. Allen in Hamilton, Bermuda.
“Dear heart, I wonder what has become of that Bermuda angel-fish of mine. She hasn’t answered my last letter, & it makes me a little uneasy. Can you tell me she & her household are well? I hope so. / Lovingly” … [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Marjorie Breckenridge.
Dear Marjorie: / Indeed you are right: This region is beautiful now; every day adds new & richer tints & shades to the splendor of its autumn glories. I wish you were here to prowl the woods & the glen with me.
Those three fishes have been here, & they all liked the place & greatly admired the Gorge. Margaret & her mother went away day before yesterday, & the others on the 28th Sept.
No, dear, the scare remains. Not a woman in the house has had a good night’s sleep unpersecuted by ghastly dreams since the burglary 19 days ago. My daughter Clara has the shudders every time she thinks of that night, & so does Miss Lyon.
Miss Lyon is now in New York for a day or two, & Mr. Ashcroft went away this morning. So I am a solitary. I don’t like being a solitary. However, it isn’t for long; Miss Lyon will return this evening, & Mr. Ashcroft tomorrow.
With my kindest regards to your parents, & lots of love to you, dear, … [MTP; MTAq 217].
Sam also wrote to Dorothy Quick.
How are you getting along, dear heart? The women-folks in this house are not getting along well at all. Their sleep is broken, & is pestered with dreadful dreams every night—dreams about burglars. Catherine says she has the same dream nightly, in which a swarm of masked burglars are riddling her with bullets. It fetches her out of her slumbers with a shriek.
We’ve built a garage. It was necessary, for the Sunday morning train is taken off, & actors cannot come to us now, save by motor car. They can fetch it by train to South Norwalk, & motor the rest of the way in less than an hour.
We are putting glass in the arches of the loggia now, & turning it into a winter parlor, so that we can sit there with our knitting & watch the snowstorms.
We have plenty of cats & kittens, now—all descendants of the incomparable Tammany.
With lots of love to you, dear, … [MTP; MTAq 218].
Sam also wrote to Emilie R. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers).
Dear Mrs. Rogers: /The letter was an urgent one from Clara; & as she knew I was going to Fairhaven she rushed it thither. Dear me, I wish you two would come here, & right away! & look at the foliage. Can’t you? Won’t you? Will you? / With love to you both, … [MTP].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: I met Benares at the station; it was an inspiration of mine, as I drove up Madison Avenue in a cab, on my way to an intelligence office, and the look on his face was one of grave astonishment and solemn delight, when he saw me suddenly appear. Oh the good Benares. I had a wonderful sleep in Santa’s little apartment and I came home to find the King full of interest in my servant hunt [MTP: IVL TS 69].
Malcom Fiddis Greenridge wrote a letter all in rhymed verse from Brooklyn, NY to ask Sam for a photograph, enclosing his own [MTP].
Emily C. Hawley wrote from Brookfield Center, Conn. to ask Sam if he would allow her to quote a paragraph he’d written many years before on Hawaii, for her to include in a sketch she was writing of the first missionaries sent to the Islands in 1819 [MTP]. Note: IVL: “Request” Alexander Ross MacMahon wrote from Norwalk, Conn. to ask Sam for the honor of calling with a friend, the Marquis of Montcalm some Sunday. He enclosed his photo (in file) [MTP]. Note: IVL: “Oh, yes.” The famous French general (1712-1759) during the French and Indian wars bore this title, and had at least six children, possibly as many as twelve. This Marquis was possibly a descendant.
October 7 after – In Redding, Conn. Sam sent printed broadside notices dated Oct. 7, 1908 as receipts for various small contributions for a local public library established in his name.
The receipts which survive are to the following: Harriet Whitmore Enders (“Hattie”) for $25; Albert B. Paine for $2.45; Philip Nichols Sunderland for $1; Chatelaine for $2.50; and John Elton Wayland for $2 [MTP]. Note: See insert.